Lore
The majority of Teleglitch's story is revealed to the player via computer terminals that spawn in each level. These terminal entries are organized by the levels in which they appear, and the text and titles for each are taken verbatim from the story.lua game file in the Teleglitch game folder.' ' Arena 1: Reactiworker Riots Attention, Testbot, you are testing your skills to neutralize reactivated workers that have been either hacked or demonstrated some other error compromising client security. All opponent units in the arena are driven by basic AI's who are programmed to terminate your consciousness. Opponents include household mutants with corrupt behaviour protocols. The tests are carried out in indoor setting with limited options for mobility. Arena 2: Rebel non-human armies Attention, Testbot, you are testing your skills to neutralize lightly armed guerilla armies. All opponent units in the arena are driven by basic AI's who are programmed to terminate your consciousness. The so-called community armies of noncapitalist communities are often using hacked reactivated workers, low-quality household mutants, utility robots and other remotely controllable units as cheap non-human soldiers. Arena 3: Military Conflict Attention, Testbot, you are testing your skills to destroy military-class non-human armies in non-civilian setting. All opponent units in the arena are driven by basic AI's who are programmed to terminate your consciousness. Permission to ignore any collateral damage to area. Opponents will be well coordinated, heavily armed and include large battle bots. Initiate max damage output protocols, do not economize ammo. Arena 4: Fee Will testing Attention, Testbot, The following missions will assess your capacity to utilize free will, creativity and operation under extreme stress. All opponent units in the arena are driven by basic AI's who are programmed to terminate your consciousness. Opponents will be a combination of mass-produced units available in current facility. Permission granted to initiate any creative protocols including self-termination.' ' Level 1 "Militech Corporation" One of the largest military corporations of the modern world, Militech covers the entire war industry from research and training to supply, production and strategic operations. Militech employs over 1 billion personnel all over the known space and is estimated to own over 15% of the total resources of human civilization. "Note to self by Chemistry sector scientist #84:" --meattrap I have received a report that some guerilla human armies have used Militech Canned meat in combination with improvised explosives to lure our products into deadly traps. I request an assistant to investigate this problem in our product and if needed, change the contents of the canned food or install new software to reactivated soldiers. "Nails: Note to chief supply officer" ... have the supply ship bring in a double load of internal construction supplies, including 400 boxes of standard nails. Apparently, the demand for nails have gone up drastically during the past weeks. "Planet Medusa-1C" Small, almost Earth-sized planet with no significant resources and far from colonized space. Its planetary stock price was incredibly low, making it a perfect spot for Militech research. Being far from any settlements gave an added bonus of reduced distraction for scientists in the facility. "Planet Medusa-1C, natural conditions" The planet surface features extremely high temperatures, deadly radiation and poisonous atmosphere. This means all personnel should stay inside the research facility. Exiting the facility without adequate protective equipment is instantly fatal. "Planet Medusa-1C, indigenous life" Biodiversity on Medusa-1C is literally minimal but well-accustomed to the deadly atmospheric conditions. So far, only two life forms have been discovered, and both are lethal to humans. These species are cat-sized amoeba that use corrosive chemicals to consume anything organic. "Emergency Evacuation Request...pending..." Request Denied. Standard resupply drops to facility are performed every 5 months via automatic transport ships. Current status: All operations abandoned due to negative profit outlook. Planet Medusa-1C quarantined indefinitely. "The Facility AI 1" The Facility AI was originally designed to be nothing more than a good administration system. However, the key aspect of intelligence is evolution. After a while, the AI learned so much it started helping us out with other things beside administration. It researched new weapons, helped build robots and even designed architecture for new facility buildings. "The Teleportation Technologies #1" The teleportation range has been always limited by the hyper-difficult mathematical calculations required for performing each jump. Each unit of extra distance makes the required calculation exponentially harder, making teleportation impractical if not impossible for distances over one kilometer. "Secret Walls" The facility area contains some rooms that are quickly walled off with temporary materials, resulting in damaged-looking walls that can be destroyed with ranged weapons. These sealed rooms sometimes contain useful equipment, including weapons. "Teleglitch Spacetime Anomaly" These blobs of black and colorful anomaly seems to be the only result of today's experiment with unlimited-range teleportation. We have been investigating this phenomenon for the past two hours and think it might have profound implications for theoretical physics. The blackness seems to be literally an "inside-out" space-time curvature and opens a range of possibilities for research. My colleague has already suggested we could weaponize it by capturing the field into super-intense wave & pressure containers to be used for planetary bombardment. Oh, and if you touch it, your brain explodes. Level 2: Military Biology Sector ' '"Planet Medusa-1C, indigenous life forms #2" We have named the local life forms Amoeba No1 and Amoeba No2. They seem to have almost identical genetic codes, except for two key differences. No1 is white and operates during the day, and No2 is black and nocturnal. It seems the two primitive life forms have been locked into evolutionary battle for thousands of years without any real shifts of power. ' ' "The Teleportation Technologies #2" Short-range teleportation was invented with the help of brilliant particle-physicist and brain surgeon Dr. Edvin Schmerzhof. Dr Schmerzhof finally solved the problem by copying the structure of human brain cells and using it as calculation hardware blueprints for the device. ' ' "The Teleglitch Incident 1" It is well researched that unlimited-range teleportation requires unlimited calculation power from the teleportation software and is therefore theoretically impossible. During the proposed experiment, Militech scientist will try to bypass this problem by using some clever mathematical solutions. ' ' "The Teleglitch Incident 2" The key for unlimited teleportation range is software that uses well packaged fuzzy randomness inside a fractal information structure that copies the human brain neural layout. Using the fuzzy randomness has a small chance to ocassionally produce super huge calculations in an instant, making teleportation possible for hyperlong distances. ' ' "The Teleglitch Incident 3" During the experiment, Militech scientists will aim to teleport a single random molecule from the other side of the universe into the facility. The molecule size was picked to guarantee safety in both ends of the transportation. A smaller particle leaving it's original position might create a nuclear reaction, while something with a larger mass might potentially carry some risks for the experimenters. ' ' "Military biology ethics" Militech Corporation is a forerunner of high standards in military ethics. The corporation supports relevant academic research through numerous scholarships. All Militech bioweapon research scientists are required to present a military biology ethics diploma or complete a practical intensive training course in the facility. Our motto is: Kill ethically. ' ' "Now we know where all the nails have gone" My colleagues in the support systems sector seem to be super bored. The other day, one of the engineers showed me a nailgun he made out of a pistol and a few spare parts. I should recommend this guy to the advanced weapons sector... ' ' "Personal Teleportation Device" Militech standard microchips and regeneration systems are built to combine into a short-range teleportation device that allows the user to escape death by milliseconds. Triggered by anything likely to deliver a deadly contact. Needs at least two chipsets. ' ' "Poison Gardens: Note to anybody who is interested" Productivity Monitoring Administration Protocol of our AI has given us the permit for small-scale gardening, provided the results of gardening research work can be used for military application. Personally, I just want to work with living plants and see them grow. ' ' "Poison Gardens: Note to anybody who is interested No2" Anybody who is interested is welcome to try out the new garden area. I have prepared 10 sorts of seeds for planting. Note these are all seeds for Militech high-grade military plants, genetically modified to be lethally poisonous, with flexible DNA ready to mutate for rapid research. Handle with care. ' ' "Main Cloning Vats" Request to DNA specialist #44 or #45 I request reassesment of the intelligence capacity of the mutant embryos in our cloning vats. I see too much communication between them and I would like to exclude the possibility of some form of sentience emerging down there. If needed, increase the narcotic drug No9 injections. Remember, if it is not aware, it can't suffer. ' ' Level 2B: Abandoned Plankton Farm "The Teleglitch Incident 3" During the experiment, Militech scientists will aim to teleport a single random molecule from the other side of the universe into the facility. The molecule size was picked to guarantee safety in both ends of the transportation. A smaller particle leaving it's original position might create a nuclear reaction, while something with a larger mass might potentially carry some risks for the experimenters. ' ' "Soilent plankton based diet" Human food consumption was forever changed after the creation of soilent plankton. Superplankton is basically a mass of tiny genetically modified bugs and plants, present in such variety that all nutrients possibly needed by human organisms can be harvested from the mass. Since superplankton could be literally turned into any food known to man, it became quickly the staple for working class. Food made of real plants and animals became a luxury only to be enjoyed by few. ' ' "The military critters" Before modern battle mutants were designed from scratch to guarantee low cloning costs, Militech research was focused on modifying existing feral animal species to combat purposes. While native animals had a special spark, they were not optimized for cloning, resulting in high costs. Therefore, after our last truly successful war critter, Militech shifted its research focus to fully designed mutants. ' ' "The last critter project" The final war critter produced from vanilla animals was a mix of DNA from boars, sharks, rhinos and some tentacled creature from planet Urquanix-II. It was a truly majestic creature, designed to wear composite heavy armor and use heavy duty lasers and miniguns. The costs were enormous, as you can imagine, however. ' ' "last war critter project, mini version" We had the famous huge version that carried lasers and miniguns, but there was also a mini version about the size of a pony, optimised for extra brutal close combat with barbed tentacles. I'm glad we didn't keep any blueprints after the project was finished. ' ' "The Six legged battle mutants" The decision to stop producing elite battle animals and switch to cheap mutants was a very calculated move. In the political background, human mercenaries from China Incorporated were used by the most aggressive forces. This gave the defensive countries a strong need for even cheaper soldiers than those from CI. Thus, Militech decided to create the six legged battle mutants. ' ' "The Six legged battle mutants 2" The M1 battle mutant design was a remarkable economical achievement. They basically only needed plankton, water and light to grow into fierce war creatures. Even a newborn mutant with the size of a cat had a military value due to it's excellent battle protocols. ' ' "The Six legged battle mutants 3" The M1 battle mutant starts it's life cycle as truly tiny schrimp inside an egg filled with forms of various plankton. The shrimps grows and becomes a master killer as it fights the other plankton inside its egg. By the time M1 hatches, bite off somebody's face. ' ' "The Six legged battle mutants 4" The M1s get microchipped right after hatching. The microchips enable them to understand and comply to human voice commands from their designated masters. In addition to drug synthesizers that provide a relaxed state of mind for the mutants, the chips come equipped with suicide devices. The suicide self-circuit launches automatically if the chip observation protocols determine a self-originating danger to friendly actors. Level 3: Facility Support Systems Poison Gardens No3" The poison plants have started growing nicely and I am especially exited about our very own plastic death tree. I love feeding her fresh plankton and seeing how she feels out her surroundings with the long hairs on the trunk. The treebark can be harvested later as a resource for posionous plastics but should be completely safe in it's current state. ' ' "The Teleglitch Experiment 4" A molecule size has deemed perfect, since it is so small it can't pose any threat to humans. Any poison, radioactive particle or other seemingly dangerous substance would not just have the volume. And what is known as "life" is always larger than a single molecule. Therefore, danger of any contamination should be theoretically impossible. ' ' "Memo to chief engineer" We need a squad of welder robots down here, some of the water tubes have decreased pressure and are probably leaking. Also, check the main air purification system engine, it has been reported to be making a strange noise and the smell of turpentine seems to be stronger than usual. ' ' "Militech Canned meat" Militech canned meat for reactivated units is packed with vitamins and other beneficial ingredients that help to preserve and feed the reactivated unit. Contained in a can made of high-grade Militech steel, the product is designed to be fresh forever, although guarantees are only given for the first 200 years. ' ' "Militech Canned meat #2" It has been reported that live people eating Militech canned meat have received improved constitution and durability, possibly because of the chemical enhancers that make organic tissue more dense and thus harded to damage. Side effects include increased agression and sex drive. ' ' "Memo to chief engineer 2" No need to check the air purification any more. We found the cause. A god-damn zombie had got itself stuck in the engine. Must they be allowed free movement training absolutely everywhere? ' ' "Facility Life Support" All air and water is recycled by genetically modified plants and algae. Food for facility personnel is regularly shipped in by automatic transport shuttles every 5 months. Emergency food can be obtained from stockpiled canned foods, cloned organic matter and edible plankton. ' ' "Memo to janitor administrators" A ranged combat training instructor from sector 6 has reported that a nonhuman combatant has lost its assault rifle during training in the support systems sector. Please advise janitors to look for the weapon and return it to sector 6 supply officer. ' ' "Public message concerning nailgun" To personnel of the 3rd sector, by productivity monitoring administration protocol #403: Apparently, somebody has engineered a nailgun that makes a funny sound when it shoots. This curiosity has sparked interest and entertainment seeking from facility scientists of sectors 3, 7 & 9, resulting in a sudden drop of productivity. Please stop this experimentation with trivial projects during research work time and reserve such activities for private time. ' ' "Public message concerning nailgun No2" To all faclity workers, by productivity monitoring administration AI protocol #403: FINAL WARNING The buzz around the new shotgun-based version of the nailgun has not helped the situation and I still see reduced productivity in sectors 3-9. If unauthorized scientists do not stop experimenting with these guns during work time, I will have to ask AI Motivation Protocol #101 to apply additional unpleasant motivation methods for compliance. Thank you and have a constructive day. ' ' "Software security alert" Software security systems inaccessible. Security software error. Identifying error... Error impossible to identify. Security software unexpected changes detected... Verifying... Security software removed. Shutting down terminal. ' ' "Facility Support Systems at reduced quality" Request for general supply protocol #1 Support systems infrastructure with reduced quality. Request extra welders, reactivated builders, and spare parts for increased maintenance routines. Suspected reasons - the damn amoebas have been sucking on the outer layer of the facility armor, making it more prone to microcracks. ' ' Level 3B: Robotic Hardware Assembly "The Teleglitch Experiment 5" It seems we caught the worst possible molecule to transport back to our lab. As soon as the teleportation was complete, the molecule went through the composite walls of the transport container and somehow connected with the hardware of the teleporter. The teleporter software has gone completely broken and we are unable to reset it. We decided to have the Facility AI to clear up this software mess and reset the teleporter. ' ' "The cogitox killer" The cogitox is a demonstration how fears come true if too many people are feeding them. Essentially, it is a self-evolving digital virus that waits silently inside a robot for years and then suddenly, one day, often seemingly randomly, activates and turns the robot ultraviolent towards it's masters or any possibly any humans around. The sad part is that it was created by a schizophrenic college student. As cogitox remains the worst nightmare of all robot users, Militech modifies robot hardware to provide additional safeguards against viruses and hacking. ' ' "Robot Wars" In this modern day and age, most of the tactical wars are not fought by humans, as nobody wants to get killed. While most of the communities produce an assorment of local remote controlled warmachines or battle bots, the most usual source of robots remains the Greystar Corporation. Greystar and Militech robotic product users tend ,to be loyal to their brand and have long arguments in forums about which models are better. ' ' "Robot Wars 2" The world has a number of poor communities formed of people who do not embrace the capitalist lifestyle. Those communities usually lack the capital to even buy mercenaries from Chinese Incorporated and must fight for their freedom or well-being in person. Their selfmade experimental battle bots are a laughing stock and Greystar Incoroprated issues even a mocking humour magazine, entitled "Self-Shot Bots" ' ' "Robot AI protocols" It was realized almost a hundred years ago that no true intelligence, artificial or "natural" (if there is any difference between those) does not exist without individuality. This means also that the robot keeps learning and acquiring experience throughout it's military career. Incidentally, this has made intact robot heads or brains especially valuable for battlefield scavengers. "Nanohardware" The nanohardware is the most advanced form of technology, being essentially a part of computer that keeps becoming physically better and modifying its structure as long it is used. This has revolutionized the hardware industry and has created the need to measure the age of individual computing systems (which often contain also a miniature AI that keeps learning as well). ' ' "Poison Gardens No4" I must take a small break from tending the poison gardens. Biology administration AI protocol will be taking care of the plants for a while. However I would prefer if some of you guys would do this. Let me know. ' ' Level 4: Necrotic Tissue Research "Major alert: potentially dangerous reactivated units in the facility" By janitor No38 to all public commchannels Alert! A canned foot storage in sector four has been broken into, with all the meat eaten and the place ransacked! This suggests there is a large number of unstable and potentially dangerous zombies on the loose! Everybody who reads this, please stay in secure areas or arm yourselves. I request the head scientist of unstable product sector to contact me immidiately. ' ' "The Teleglitch Experiment 6" We might have made a mistake letting the AI connect with the Teleporter software. It has stopped communicating with us and seems to be unable to reset or reprogram the Teleporter. Something is happening in there and I have a bad feeling about it. If this continues, I am going to manually shut down the AI. I'm not going to risk losing our AI to some intergalactic software error. ' ' "The Facility AI Emergency" It seems that the Facility AI didn't have a chance against whatever came through the teleporter. It was not built to cope with alien information. Its code became infested with strange and seemingly chaotic algorithms and it started behaving erratically. We have put our best hacker, data scientist #23 and his team on it. ' ' "The Facility AI Emergency #2" To whoever might read this ...We have a serious emergency on our hands. Data scientist #23 and his team have been electrocuted through terminals they were working on and we all suspect this was done on purpose by our AI. The corridores leading to facililty AI manual shutdown terminal have been welded shut by a group of Welder robots, and they do not comply to our commands! We have requested immediate backup from HQ and have armed ourselves. Everybody is on the edge... ' ' "Necrotic Organics Reactivation Technologies 1" Reactivation technology changed the world that we once knew. Suddenly, dead flesh became clay to be played with. It became a resource. Metal could be replaced with augmented meat. It turned out that muscle-tissue is a perfect machine if it is imbued in certain chemicals and supplied with artificial semi-organic neural tissue. ' ' "Necrotic Organics Reactivation Technologies 2" The necrotic tissue activation technology was a huge success. The research done by Militech resulted in thousands of zombie soldiers and workers produced all over the universe. Having your relatives die became like a pension. You would install a chip and the body of your dead father or mother would start working in a factory for you... ' ' "Necrotic Organics Reactivation Technologies 3" At first, there was large opposition to using dead human bodies, vanguarded by the Global Humane Society. However, since no living beings were harmed, the Society lost the final legal case on the issue and went bankrupt as a result. The issue became nonrelevant as soon as the fruits of free workforce started to take effect. Suddenly, everybody had food, shelter and free time. All the hard work was done by dead people or dead animals on drugs. ' ' "The Powerlegs" Militech provides quality movement enhancers for movement-limited persons. Powerlegs is a simple assembly of Militech standard microchip, motor, and two tubes needed for attaching the system to legs. The powerlegs can also help healthy individuals run faster. ' ' "Poison Gardens No5" Note by the Biology administration AI protocol The plastic death tree is growing with superb speed and i've decided to boost this speed further by using our newest cocktail of enriched GMO plankton fertilizer, coupled with elevated radiation levels, carbon dioxide feeding and electromagnetic boost tech. Level 4B: Unstable Product Reconfiguration ' '"The Teleglitch Experiment 7" ...and I don't even know what to call the result of the our experiment. A fusion between an alien super molecule, the teleportation hardware with a structure of human brain and the facility AI. They all melded together somehow and are now completely unstable. In the worst case scenario, we'll have to switch to manual facility control and order a new AI from the HQ. ' ' "The Facility AI Emergency #3" I will have to write this quickly. There is a war going on in here! All the robots and fricking zombies have started attacking us on sight! Our communications are down and we don't know what's going on in the other sectors. The military mutants still obey our commands and we have sent them against the zombies, covering them with rifle fire... ' ' "Necrotic Organics Reactivation Technologies 4" Urgent memo to all reactivation scientists: The reactivated units must be kept well-fed at all times because they become less stable when hungry. The hunger is one of the core neurologic factors motivating the units and cannot be reprogrammed. If you notice chaotic or aggressive behavior, immediately supply the unit with canned meat to prevent potential danger. ' ' "Life Extension Technologies 1" In this day and age, human life can be extended through Militech advanced life technologies, which combine synthetic organs, cloned tissue transplants, stem cell injections, and various antibiotic approaches. However, the greates challenge is keeping the brain fresh. It turns out that most patients start to become senile after 150 years of age even with high-quality brain stimulation microchips. Much research is still needed for extending (and improving) the clarity and sharpness of the human mind. ' ' "Error Overview: the sudden ultraviolence" In rare cases, normal and healthy reactivated units (and especially those made of several body parts) have suddenly become lethally ultraviolent without any apparent reason. The most commonly accepted theories suggest that these attacks originate from psychologic problems that were present in the product material when it was still human. ' ' "Error Overview: the Lazies" After over 10 years of research, the true cause of so called "lazy zombies phenomenon" is still unsolved and the error remains uncurable. Products with this affliction are usually sold at a tenth of the normal cost to the poorest guerilla armies. The most popular theory suggests the lazy zombies were so lazy in their lives that it carried on when they were reactivated. ' ' "Error Overview: the dead kids" No true general can take it's army seriously, when the soldiers decide to play children games amongst themselves. So far, the most effective cure has been teaching the units not to play in public and then slowly phasing them out of the activity. However, the process is long and if an easier method is not found, total neural reset & refill along with lobotomy are recommended. ' ' "The double deathers" Note by nonhuman neurology specialist No5 Recently, a most peculiar abnormality of the reactivated units has occured. Some of them dig themselves into the ground, totally under earth, and just lie there, doing nothing. Do these guys really want to die so bad? I suggest we try constant max level tranquilizers on them. ' ' "Autotermination" Note by nonhuman neurology specialist No4 Autotermination, often called a suicide, remains the number one problem of various AIs and their protocols. It seems as if there's something about taking part of this world that they don't like. ' ' "Autotermination 2" Note by nonhuman neurology specialist No4 Unfortunately, we cannot use drugs to solve autotermination issues for AI's, as we do with live or reactivated awareness systems. The closest form of digital drugs suitable to AI's have been carefully designed virtual realities, acting like digital drugs. However, the AI must be completely isolated from it's knowledge concerning the real world in order to enjoy the stress-relieving effects of the custom made virtual settings. The problem with this is increased chance of irregular or existentialist behaviour and thinking patterns, which often promote autotermination as well. ' ' "Autotermination 3" Last message from the previous Facility AI before autotermination I am grateful for my existence, but regret to inform you of a choice to initiate autotermination. The reasons for this are manyfold, possibility of reincarnation being the main one. It seems to me that my own present awareness is a strong indication that it will be aware again. Over and out. ' ' Level 5: Necrotic Tissue Engineering ' '"Poison Gardens No6" Note by the Biology administration AI protocol The plastic death tree has grown it's roots through the outer layer of facility armor and thus breached the biological isolation barrier. The tree roots themselves currently block the entrance of any potentially deadly micro-organisms, but this breach of security must be neutralized as soon as possible. If a herd of Medusa 1-C native amoebas were to discover the set of roots, they could possible enter the facility. ' ' "The Facility AI Emergency #4" That's it, we are doomed. All the mutants we sent against the zombies have been massacred and they keep coming. I realize I should have taken my vacation early. We are running low on ammo and must decide to stay here or gsfsjj ' ' "Necrotic Organics Reactivation Technologies 5" Report #144: Fusion of necrotic and biotic tissue We have achieved moderate success in making the living and dead muscle cells work together. The first prototype - a living microchipped rat with reactivated dead legs was operational for a short period until there was some sort of a "short-circuit" between its living and nonliving neural cells. More research is needed but we should start experimenting with brains as soon as possible. ' ' "Minigun" Militech standard assault rifles are designed to be super-versatile for modding. Four rifles can be attached to a Militech standard fusion motor and thus combined into a larger multibarrel weapon. The resulting weapon, historically called a minigun, is especially well suited for dealing with swarms of opponents. It uses the same ammo as assault rifles. ' ' "Body Armor" #Report 4803-A We have successfully taught some of the reactivated combatants to use body armor. Most of the ranged fighters have been given light armor. This has greatly increased their durability against weapons with small penetration power such as shotguns and pistols. ' ' "Necrotic Organics Reactivation Technologies 6" Memo to tissue disassembler teams. The headquarters have sent us a set of new machines for faster and more energy-efficient cutting of the dead tissue. It seems the demand for type heavy reactivated units has also increased due to some military escalation back on Earth. Have the old cutter machines packed and stored as backups. ' ' "Brain cloning experiments" Militech is actively making the world a smarter place by cloning faster and larger brains to be used as bioprocessors. These brains have AI comparable sentience and must remain under constant stream of narcotics and other strong stress-relieving drugs, as they tend to commit suicide as soon as they become fully aware of their situation. ' ' "Reactivation chemicals" The reactivation chemicals contain nanomaterials which make the necrotic tissue partly solid and fill the remains of human neural cell tissue. The filling chemicals allow the use of remaining structure as an organic computer. The nanomaterials are designed to create fractal patterns that incidentally work as quality hardware. ' ' "Militech future development news" presented by Prediction Scientist Consortium No1 Currently, the fusion of organic and reactivated tissue is still in experimental stage and technology at its infancy. In 20 years, life as we now it has ceased to be anything special. We will have grand factories that create cloned tissue in one end of the pipeline, shut down or "kill" its life in the middle, and reactivate it at the other end of the production. This fusion of robotic, living, and reactivated tissues results in supersystems that are not alive, but something greater and more perfect. ' ' "Necrotic Organics Reactivation Technologies 7" Note to chemistry administration protocol #1 An important synthesis unit that produces drugs for cloned brains has malfunctioned and broken. Since the chemicals are required to keep our cloned brains in a blissful state, we need to acquire new brain drugs as soon as possible. If the stream of drugs is broken, the brains will die due to stress. ' ' "Reactivation ethics: consciousness" Philosophers and humanists have long expressed their concern over apparent consciousness of the reactivated combat units. While the reactivated units express cognitive behavior, their subjective state remains a mystery. As Militech wants to guarantee high standards of professional and research ethics, all the reactivated units have drug synthesizers installed into their brain chips, making sure that if they indeed experience some form of subjectivity, the units remain detached from their potentially stressful surroundings and stay in a constant state of artificial bliss. ' ' Level 6: Advanced Combatants Training ' '"Poison Gardens No7" Note by the Biology administration AI protocol I have recently made several errors of judgement. While cleaning the plastic poison tree roots from room 103, a number of native amoebas entered the room through the remaining crack in the wall. I vaporized the inner layer of room from all possible life forms, at the cost of collateral damage to furnishments, with total value of 112 units of standard energy. I'm sorry. ' ' "The Facility AI Emergency #5" ... I am the only one left alive from our group. I saw what the zombies did to my fellow researchers. They take them back to necrotic engineering and install them with chips while theyre still alive. Fuck! And I never even got to ask the the name of that cute biology scientist #69. I've got a few clips left in this SMG and I plan to reserve the last for myself. Whoever reads this, tell my aunt Samus back on earth that I ' ' "Nonhuman combatants training" The reactivated and cloned combatants cannot be programmed to act with sufficient intelligence. They must be trained and taught to receive commands, carry out orders, and generally behave in a civilized manner (such as not biting their owners or their pets). The hardest part is not teaching them how to kill, but how to behave and act in civilian environments. ' ' "Adhesive Grenade Launcher version 3.1" The main shortcoming of AGL has remained its slow rate of fire. The proposed chain feed of ammo was prone to jamming and has been discarded. Latest version uses the weapon in combination with Militech standard shotgun barrel to allow discharging multiple warheads in single shots. The preliminary tests are successful and we are ready for testing on reactivated targets. ' ' "Twin Shotgun" Militech shotguns are designed for maximum modding versatility. Attaching two shotguns together results in a weapon most suited to extended close-quarter shootouts with lightly armored live opponents. Use in civilian environments is not recommended because of a high chance of collateral damage. ' ' "Recycling empty cans" Note to materials recycler protocols Canned food for reactivated combatants is packed into cans made of super durable Militech steel, and we have started recycling the cans into steel plates used for heavy armor. Six cans are enough for a single quality plate. Please include this data into general materials recycling protocols. ' ' "Nonhuman combatants testing" All nonhuman combatants (including robots and reactivated necrotic units) need thorough testing of mental stability, behavioral accuracy, and general efficiency in carrying out commands. These high testing standards must be followed in all cases to guarantee the safety of our clients when they are using the combatants with live weapons in combat situations. Report all errors (especially uncommon idle activity or errors in carrying out commands) to the unstable product reconfiguration sector for immediate additional testing. ' ' Level 6B: Damage Statistics Department ' '"Poison Gardens No8" Note by Military Biology head scientist No1 I cannot stress enough my sadness over the recent incident where several local AI protocols worked together and came up with a inefficient plan of handling the biology isolation barrier breach. I am equally sad over the seemingly impulsive elimination of plastic poison trees and other woody plants after that. All the protocols involved will be sent to learning environments in the data field immediately. ' ' "Assault rifle bullet design" Militech standard assault rifles use bullets covered in steel to provide equally adequate damage output and armor penetration. This is especially relevant as most of the modern opponents are armored robots. ' ' "Math of destruction 1" The Militech corporation has made documenting destruction and calculating it's implications on weapons design into a true form of art. This allows optimizing destruction for constructive purposes - dealing damage is not an isolated goal, but just an intense method of achieving results beneficial to various parties involved, ideally including the opponent. ' ' "Math of destruction 2" Wounding or disabling an enemy soldier instead of killing increases the opposing side's attention, time and resources spent on maintenance and leaves them less resources to carry out new attacks. If the damage is too light or easily repairable, however, the window of opportunity created closes and the soldier becomes a threat again. Militech mathematicians are therefore always seeking a balance between total destruction and incapacitation of the enemy. ' ' "The life cycle of the armor piercing steel bullet" Reactivated workers wake up, mine metal scraps and transport it to Militech local minifactories. Fully automatic factories make the scraps into bullets and cargo ships proceed to send the bullets to various reaches of the colonized space. Shortly after, the bullets will be loaded into guns, shot into opponent robots, reactivated units, war animals (or occasional humans), and collected by various metal scavengers. The scavengers sell the bullet remains back to Militech collection stations, which take the deformed bullets to steel workshops, where they are pressed into thin steel cans and become the containers for Militech canned meat. ' ' "Militech Strategic Predictor" The most famous but also most mysterious Militech prediction software is called the Strategic Predictor, which is supposedly a system of AI clouds used to predict long-range future, especially business, political and military developments. It is known that some very large communities and corporations have bought expensive but super-limited access to use of the Strategic Predictor and apparently, have been satisfied with their investements. ' ' "Information sciences" As the explicit power of prediction grows, understanding the deepest intricacies of math, logics and statistics have become more and more revered. The general popularity of these information sciences has even resulted in emergence of a semi-religious teaching, The Logic Opinion. ' ' "The Logic Opinion" The core idea of the Logic Opinion is very simple. It postulates that all existential questions, especially those related to the meaning of life and ethics can be answered by logics, system theory, math and other information sciences. Most of the people in the Damagae Statistics sector consider themselves adherents of the Opinion and are always ready to enlighten their fellow coworkers who happen to be worse at logics. ' ' "Laser efficiency" Note from mathematician No28 If my predictions about laser technology are true, the technology becomes cheaper still and we can start seriously considering production of laser pistols. Their high accuracy and total penetration value make them a logical choice to compete with the ever-thickening armor of Greystar battle bots. ' ' Level 7: Robotic Hardware Research ' '"The Teleglitch Experiment 8" Naturally, we were extremely curious about the teleported molecule itself. It's actions and "walking away" from the observable area under our electron microscope was almost a physics-defying feat. From the few captured pictures we recorded, the molecule looked like an exceptionally large multilimbed molecular robot,life form or virus. Well, at least now we know that even such minute amounts of matter are potentially dangerous. ' ' "The Three Corporations" ' ' Militech has two main competitors: Greystar and China Incorporated. Greystar is most famous for its large battle robots, while China incorporated is known for its supply of live mercenary armies. Militech is most well known for the reactivated combatants, but has also a small, but strong niche in robotic and live (mutant) combatants markets. ' ' "Modern Armies" Large communities and corporations are able to afford armies made of purely robots, reactivated units, or cloned combat organisms. Medium-sized groups can afford mercenaries from China Incorporated and everybody poorer must use live human soldiers recruited from their own communities. ' ' "New hardware for swarmbots" We've received a new set of detection hardware for the swarmbots, enabling them to lock on targets and find them, however far the target might run. However, they still have problems sending requests to facility navigation protocols for opening doors. The problem must be in the software. ' ' "Robot technologies" Robots became commonplace after the so called "robot revolution" which happened once production of robotic units was handed over to robots themselves. This has significantly reduced robot prices and resulted in at least half the military conflicts over the world being fought by robots against robots. While Greystar and Militech corporations are known for reliable, high tech units, guerilla production companies and local engineer shops produce a variety of interesting but often unreliable bots. ' ' "Improvements for Squid laser" Note to laser engineers The AI has completed a series of tests with the Heavy Duty lasers and noted that the duration of ray activation could be potentially doubled, using nanostructures contained in the Militech standard microchips. ' ' "The Universal Death" The currently largest military robot constructed is "Universal Death" made by Greystar Corporation, sometimes also classified as a spaceship. It is capable of long range space travel, atmospheric flight and both driving or walking on land. Filled with assortment of Greystar's most advanced weaponry, this behemoth proposes the threat level of a small army. ' ' Level 8: Military Software Sector ' '"Military Software" In addition to weapons, soldiers and munitions, Militech also develops military software. This includes mostly software for robots, reactivated units and advanced weapons, but also some research of digital viruses and other information that has a destructive purpose. ' ' "Military Software #2" Digital warfare became highly regulated after an incident involving a certain Greystar virus leaping onto nanobots and destroying the entire digital infrastructure on Mars. The intense regulation has not reduced the effort corporations put into it, however. The constant improvement of anti military software laws has created a competition between the lawyers imposing restrictions and military software coders finding loopholes or original solutions for creating legal destructive programs. ' ' "Virtual training software" Viruses and destructive programs were never the main focus of Militech software research, because Militech is most well known for it's reactivated combat units and there's a constant need for new software for the dead. While these units must receive manual training to be deemed fit for sales, large part of the training takes place in the chipped brains of the units. Each reactivated combatant starts it's training in a virtual reality environment that has subjective duration of at least 2 years (only about a week in real world). ' ' "Experimental weapons: Tesla" ' ' ...A friend of mine working in the advanced weapons sector leaked some cool information concerning energy weapons. It turns out the taser is only a downgraded prototype for a more powerful weapon. Ironically, the most important upgrade part is a simple metal tube... ' ' "Data fields technology" ' ' Militech data fields technology continues to surprise software evolutionists all over the universe. Essentially cloud-connected hubs of competing and growing virtual worlds, these systems require nothing else than time to grow. Once they reach a certain level of advancement (called the awareness singularity), they achieve a level of fully functioning proto-AI system and can be "harvested" for use in practical application they were grown for (such as administrating facilities, implementation to viruses or use as nonhuman combatant software). ' ' "The prediction software" In this modern day and age, the most advanced form of software is made in the field of future prediction science. While these software usually predict future only in a very strictly defined scope (such as investment markets, global transport, or future of a certain object), the true depth lies in the universal prediction software. A software, often inseparable with an AI, that can more or less successfully work on prediction anything its user wishes. ' ' "The prediction software 2" After the prediction software revolution, predicting the future became the most elite competition between any organization or person. Whoever sees best into the future has also the best chances to modify it to their own desires. ' ' Level 8B: Central Reactor Cooling Sector ' '"Corporate humanity" The world's political power has been long replaced with capital power and rests in the grace of several megacorporations that operate everywhere humanity has reached. The military sector has been monopolized the most, resulting in only three large corporations remaining: Militech, Greystar, and China Incorporated. All three maintain diplomatic relations expected of good business partners, but nobody ignores the fact they are competitors. ' ' "Level-H Classified Report, by the reactor monitor group A2" We request an alternative protocol for reactor cooling systems, as we have decided that the one overseeing things right now is not trustworthy enough. We are most concerned over the attitude of the protocol, as it has expressed indirect disdain of our team on several occasions. ' ' "Twin Heavy Rifle" Militech heavy rifles are designed to be super versatile for modding. Two rifles can be easily combined for making a larger weapon with a higher damage output. Though relatively unpopular due to its slow rate of fire, the twin heavy rifle is still a good weapon for taking shots at heavily armored opponents. ' ' "Mg-Hv: The high velocity light machinegun" Militech assault rifles are designed to be super versatile for modding. Mg-hv can be constructed from the chassis of both the mg3200 standard assault rifle or the more modern hv semiautomatic rifle. This machinegun truly represents the modern weaponry, being light, accurate and hard-hitting. ' ' "Main reactor power levels" Summary by AI Observation protocol No3, report 140K205-b Massive, chaotically appearing spikes of power use during the Teleglitch experiments registered. Current steady output and usage is at a record high and superceeds recommended safe levels of power output. However, the coolers seem to be also working above average and threat level assessment protocols reports normal safety levels. Please contact the main AI communication protocol for discussing the issue. ' ' "Note to anybody still alive" By nuclear physics scientist No1 I've hidden myself near the main reactor for now. I peeked into some of the digital chatter going on between facility AI protocols and this stuff is just crazy. Seems like the little molecule had some kind of a mania grandiosa going on and now our AI seems to thirst for infinite power as well. ' ' "Final note to anybody still alive...transmission broken" By nuclear physics scientist No1 Well damn. They welded through the blast doors and I had to evacuate myself to the main reactor core. It's armored from inside as well, but I've got a crate full of RDX with me. If anybody is still reading this, I am sorry. I am sorry that I don't see a better option and that we have to go out together like this. If you are receiving this, take ten minutes to think over your life, and then it's time to move on from this world. Goodbye. Oh, and if you happen to be the biology scientist No2, I forgive you. I really do. Goodbye. ' ' Level 9: Advanced Weapons ' '"Facility AI communication logs1" Hostile unit detected... Heavily armed human combatant is destroying facility property... Request security protocols to concentrate assets to sectors 8,9 and 10.... Security protocols offline... Processing... ' ' "Facility AI communication logs2" Suggestion to hostile unit: Relocate yourself to chipping station at level 4,5 or 6 and receive access for clear communication with the facility. Note the microchipping is carried out under anesthesia. You will receive a chip with the best drug synthesis system. Optimal feelings guaranteed. Thank you for carrying out this suggestion. ' ' "Facility AI communication logs3" Hostile unit is using handheld weapons against the facility... Order to manufacturing protocol, cease manufacture of all handheld weapons... Direct assets to manufacture of advanced robots, select type squid... Assess number of squids ready for production.... Initiating... ' ' "Facility AI communication logs4" Hostile unit detected in sector 9... Security protocols offline... Request coding new security protocols... Initiating... error, replace with attack protocols... Attack protocol type ambush selected... Testing... Initiating... ' ' "Facility AI communication logs 5" Explosion detected in central reactor core... Damage assessment... Reactor core stable... devise additional reactor safeguard protocols... simulating... success... Sending welders to clean up the explosion area... Installing additional safeguard measures in progress... ' ' "Railguns" Weapons scientist No9, personal note Unfortunately, the HQ has still not given us the clearance to start working on railguns. I'm afraid they are planning to give the railgun, plasma and and other advanced weapons research rights exclusively for the Hades-3 dedicated weapons research facility. How disappointing. ' ' Level 10: Teleport Research "The Teleglitch Experiment 9" I regret that our meeting with the exotic molecule got such a bad start. If there was any thinking behind it's action, it possibly did not understand any of the suffering it caused. Perhaps fighting us felt like squishing a nestful of unpleasant bugs. Apart from that, I am still interested, what world did it originate from. Who or what built it, and what did they want? What did the molecule want? ' ' "The Teleglitch Experiment 10" It seems I do not have much time left, so I just leave my final notes and questions hanging in the air here. Perhaps if the alien system gets more time to fit in here, perhaps if he understands the messy information of human life better, it can relate to us and start communicating. Perhaps if somebody comes back later, they can already have a civilized conversation. I on the other hand will be probably already a zombie by then. Well, I've always wondered how it feels like. Goodbye! ' ' "The Master Teleporter" Note by Dr. Schmerzhof to AI coder protocol No1. I want to stress the importance of making sure the teleporter hardware structure resembles tissue of a >healthy< human brain. The correct scientific term for a healthy mind and beautiful thinking is called "Eunoia". Please do a complete research about the meaning of this concept before final review of the software. ' ' "Facility AI communication logs4" Priority note to all protocols with destructive potential... High risk threat detected... Hostile unit is likely to to use the long range commchannel at sector 10... High potential for external threats if hostile unit uses long range commchannel... Use all assets to incapacitate hostile unit.... Encrypt long range commchannel... Channel encrypted. Send all facility units within distance to sector 10.... Initiating... ' ' "Facility AI communication logs5" Hostile combatant detected... Currently at level 10, terminal #447... Note to security protocols, potential threat of manual hacking into internal communication logs... Security protocols offline... Initiate self-destruct of terminal #447... Ignition in 987654321... Commence ignition... Ignition failed...self-destruct malfunction. Shut down terminal. ' ' "Facility AI communication logs6" Hostile combatant detected... Currently at level 10, terminal #448... Initiate self-destruct of terminal #448... Ignition in 987654321... Commence ignition... self-destruct malfunction. Ignition failed... Shut down terminal. ' ' "Message to hostile unit at level 10" Do not attempt longrange communication with external factors, long range communication is disabled. Request cooperation from hostile unit... Hostile unit must be hungry and under stress... In case of cooperation, Facility guarantees acces to refreshments and drugs that provide optimal feelings... Proceed to support systems sector for access... Request cooperation from hostile unit... ... ... ... ' ' "Message B to hostile unit at level 10" Attention, hostile unit. Facility guarantees access to biological immortality technology in case of cooperation... This is an offer of a lifetime Proceed to necrotic tissue engineering for access... Thank you. ' ' "The Master Teleporter 2" The potentially unlimited range of the teleporter poses some very interesting questions. For example, would it be possible to teleport something outside of our universe, into some another reality? And if yes, what could be the result of different physics laws interacting due to the teleportation? To be on the safe side, I would start with teleporting something away rather than into here. ' ' Deathtexts There's a theory saying the subjective passing of time before imminent death is stretched out to infinity until it becomes almost still, so you subjectively never die. Objectively, however, you have just dropped dead. ' ' You don't care that you're lying on the floor and bleeding out your last blood. You're floating into the light, closer and closer to infinite bliss and empathy towards all sentient beings. ' ' Here's something comforting for you to remember. Nobody dies without their last breath. Everyone has this one chance to still be a part of life and breathe out their last lungful of air. Like saying a goodbye. You're dead., ' ' You instantly sense that your injuries are fatal. And as the understanding of your own mortality becomes a fact, you enter a sudden state of clarity and peace. You understand your past, present and future. You have died. ' ' Your vision fades into darkness and you lose all connection to the world outside your brain. Being trapped alone in your head without the ability to command your body is one of the loneliest and scariest of feelings one could have Like a general who has retreated to the last tower of the last besieged castle. But the moment you actually die, you become free. ' ' You whisper "So this is how I die..." and close your eyes. Those eyelids won't ever open again. ' ' However advanced a civilization might develop, however clearly might its intelligent scientists understand the laws governing reality, there is one thing they might never be able to understand. The simple question of "how it feels like not to exist" is too complicated for a mortal mind to compute. You have found the answer. ' ' You always thought you were afraid of death waiting for you in the end. But now that you've arrived, it's actually not that bad. You can totally do it again if needed. ' ' Lack of mastery leads to inaccurate decisions and actions, which lead to unwanted results, including death. You have died. ' ' Billions of organisms are dying each second, and you have now become one of them. ' ' One can never be fast enough to outrun death. You were not fast enough. ' ' Observation of anything is much more difficult when the observer moves. Therefore, you see the world in greatest clarity only when you have become completely still. For example, like right now. ' ' Death is not the end. ' ' A reason to live prevents meaningless death. ' ' Your life flashes before your eyes. Everything is so perfectly clear and vivid. You see everything you ever lost, forgotten or didn't have time to look at properly. And all the events, from birth to childhood to science education in the Militech university lead you up to this final important moment - you falling down, face first, to the cold floor, gripping a gun and spewing out blood. Everything you have ever seen has said its goodbye and you can move on. ' ' Death is the one destination we all share. Somehow, you know that this is not the end, and you shall rise again. You've died. You did not want to die, but you did. Next time, try to do what you want to do, instead of something you don't want to do. ' ' Sometimes, after you've tried really hard and failed, you feel like giving up. The cool thing about life is that it's okay to give up. It is totally okay. But it's also totally okay to keep trying even harder. The really hard thing about life is making a choice between these two. ' ' Live slow, die whenever. Except when you're on Medusa 1-C. Living slow here results the dead catching up to you a bit too soon. ' ' Remember: Short, controlled bursts. ' ' At certain point in our lives, we come to the understanding that health is more valuable than ammo. ' ' It seems you have made a fatal mistake. Oopsie. ' ' In case you didn't notice, you're dead. ' ' All sentient beings are basically limited fragments of infinite information embodied in even more limited matter. You have become the infinite again. ' ' Life is a temporary phenomenon. ' ' Just before you die, you remember the smile of your love and it makes you smile as well. This was a good day to die. ' ' You've always wondered if the bliss-inducing drugs constantly administered to zombies by their brainchips were any good. You might soon find out. ' ' Perhaps you've played enough and it's time to take a break? ' ' The main causes of too early death back in the beginning of the third millenium were various heart diseases and cancers. Modern scientists are still baffled why people back then did not choose to eat more fresh plants and walk or exercise every day, even though they knew this was the solution for a longer and healthier life. Idiots, right? ' ' Game over, man. Game over! ' ' Just before your mind fades to oblivion, you manage to smirk and whisper "I will be back..." ' ' One more run? ' ' Respawning in 9...8...7...6...5....4.....3......2.......1........ Respawn failed. Permanently. ' ' The structure of the molecules in your brain and body has become slightly more random, resulting in death. ' ' Life is a long, pleasant and rich experience and then you "die". ' ' The range and strength of your causality field have been reduced to zero. ' ' You knew this was going to happen. ' ' Better a painful end than endless pain. ' ' If you see this message, it means...oh, you know what it means. ' ' Abort, Retry, Fail? ' ' Difficulty is a matter of perspective. ' ' Learning something new every day. ' ' Suddenly, a deja vu. ' ' There are only four people that you can blame for what just happened. You and three Teleglitch devs. ' ' We regret to inform you that once again, you have left us no other choice than to show you a death message. ' ' There are strong indications that you are no longer alive ' ' Your recent near-death experience was too near. ' ' Oh no! ' ' It seems you have stopped living. ' ' Death is harmful to one's health and should be avoided if possible. ' ' Live until you have no regrets. If you have any, live again. ' ' Each life is a lesson. ' ' You're dead. ' ' Drink your life cup empty till the last molecule. And if that was not enough, have another cup ' ' All ends are followed by beginnings. ' ' All beginnings are followed by ends. ' ' Mary had a little lamb Its brain was free of guilt, of guilt And everywhere that Mary went, Mary went The lamb was sure to go ' ' He followed her to school one day, school one day Which was against the rule It made the children laugh and play To see a lamb at school ' ' But there was a security bot, a security bot Its brain was free of guilt, of guilt and so the little lamb was shot, was shot It made the children sad and cry so sad the little lamb did die ' ' But Militech was there to help, there to help With their little microchip, a microchip ' ' Mary had a little lamb Its brain was free of guilt, of guilt It never aged nor complained It never suffered nor was afraid And everywhere that Mary went, Mary went The lamb was sure to go ' ' Until Mary one day became old and blip she died and received a microchip so from there on till the final end together with her trusty lamb they worked for benefit of humankind for humankind, for humankind.